1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for fastening a transcutaneous or an implanted catheter, consisting of a plate of bendable material provided with an axially slotted clamping groove, open at both ends, for the catheter.
2. Description of Related Art
A secure fixing of a catheter, be it a peridural catheter or a vascular catheter, should be made as close as possible to the point of puncturing. Implanted catheters, as well, should be fixed at certain points to avoid dislocations.
Fixing devices developed for this purpose can be roughly divided into adhesive devices and clamping devices. Adhesive devices use adhesive foils that fasten the portion of the catheter issuing from the point of puncturing directly on the skin or, in a sandwich-like arrangement, fix that catheter portion between them by adhesion (German Laid Open No. 36 43 985). However, such adhesive devices do not work, e.g., with peridural catheters. This is partly due to the fact that these adhesives do not stick well on common catheter materials (like polyamide). This is also due to the fact that strong adhesive agents cannot be used in the area of the wound. With implanted catheters, adhesives cannot be used at all.
A known clamping device comprises a clip having two perforated clamping plates with clamp elements for fixing the catheter. The perforations allow the clip to be sewn on the skin (German Utility Model No. 82 04 827). Both clamping plates are made of rigid plastic material, so that the clip is rigid and hard. For this reason it cannot be used as an implant. Neither can it be used in the region of the back of a patient, since a patient can not lie on the rigid clips. The stiffness of the clip reduces its fixability to polyurethane catheters (the surface of which, due to their material, has a certain stickiness). Polyamide catheters, e.g., peridural catheters, are not reliably fixed in the rigid clip, due to their lack of surface stickiness.
Further, the clamping device of the above-mentioned type is known (German Utility Model No. 78 01 811). In this case, loop-like bending provides a strip-shaped, thin plate with several parallel clamping grooves having diameters smaller than the outer diameter of the catheter to be fixed, in order to achieve a clamping effect. The axial slot of each clamping groove runs in the flat bottom face of the plate. Bending the plate widens the axial slot of each clamping groove in order to lay in catheter portions. In the straight state, the plate, with its flat lateral surface facing the skin, is fastened to the surface of the skin with adhesive plasters. This known fixing device cannot be used as an implant, not only because of the problematic adhesive fixing, but also because of the thinness of the plate which requires a supporting surface for its flat lateral surface, so that it is not bent such that the clamping grooves are widened, thus losing their clamping effect on the catheter.
It is an object of the present invention to improve the fixing device according to German Utility Model No. 78 01 811 such that it fixes transcutaneous and implanted catheters of any kind in a reliable manner, well tolerated by the body.